Australia is a politically stable, prosperous and peaceful country. It has a federal system of government, under which the States retain considerable power and autonomy. There is a Federal Government and each of the six States and two Territories of Australia has a separate government. There is also an independent system of local government which operates at a municipal level.

Australia is a democracy and has a written constitution. Federal Parliament is comprised of two houses, the House of Representatives (the lower house) and the Senate (the upper house). The House of Representatives is responsible for introducing legislation, the Senate being more a house of review.

The parliamentary system is based on the British Westminster model. The Federal Parliament sits in the national capital, Canberra. Australia has full adult suffrage (18 years of age and over) and voting is compulsory for all three tiers of government.

The federal government is head by the Prime Minister, who must be a member of the lower house. Other ministers can be members of either house. The federal government looks after the national economy, foreign policy and defence, social services, immigration and the postal service. It also collects most of the taxation.

State and territory governments are run on similar lines to the federal one, but the leader of the government is known as the Premier. Queensland does not have an upper house. State governments are mainly responsible for education, health, transport and natural resources. Since they raise most of their revenue from the business community they compete strongly to attract new industry.

The third tier is local government. This controls such functions as urban and country roads, rubbish disposal and building codes.

Australia is a monarchy. The United Kingdom’s king or queen is also Australia’s, and is represented by a Governor General and state Governors. They are nominated by the respective governments and the nominations are ratified by the monarch. The power these governors exert is mainly ceremonial. There was a much spirited debate about the country becoming a republic, a referendum in late 1999 on this issue voted to keep the current system.

The Australian legal system is independent of politics. The traditional links with Britain have been shed, too. The Commonwealth and the states each have their own judiciaries and police forces.